<p>I am currently a junior in high school. I am a little confused as to how I should improve my stats. Here they are please leave any advice on how to improve them:
Unweighted GPA: 96 (on a 100 point scale)
Class Rank: ??? definitely top 10 in a class of 350+
SAT: 2170 (800-reading, 710-math, 660-writing)
Sports: I've been wrestling since 6th grade (since 7th with the school) & I play soccer in a town league
Extracurriculars: participate in a high school research class, mathletes, help at middle school wrestling practices, orchestra
Classes: My school does not offer any AP classes still junior year, that being said here is my schedule- AP European History, AP Chem, AP Physics B, SUPA US History(college level class offered by Syracuse University because my HS doesn't offer APUSH) AP Lit, Spanish 121(college level class), AP Calc AB, Science Research, and Orchestra</p>
<p>Thank you for taking the time to read this, I now have multiple questions:
Should I take the ACT?
How can I improve my extracurricular list with meaningful extracurriculars (no fluff)?
Is wrestling a good enough "hook" (I'm one of the top three kids on my team, but I'm by no means amazing)?
How important is community service?
Is my GPA in line with Ivy League schools?
What else would Ivy League schools be looking for?
How can I improve my SAT scores?
Do you have any general advice for me?</p>
<p>Sorry for so many questions. Thank you in advance if you could answer even just one of them for me.</p>
<p>Wrestling, by no means amazing, isn’t a hook. Recruited athlete can be.</p>
<p>In the SAT-preparation subforum there are tips/study plans pinned at the top.</p>
<p>Male sure you can do well in your classes. It doesn’t help to overload and then not perform.</p>
<p>Take the ACT- it can’t hurt! Community service is important. No one can tell you what extracurriculars to do: find what you love and do it. Ivies look for diversity, people who are going to take advantage of their resources and opportunities, and people who have done great things- not just want to do them.</p>
<p>I don’t think you need to look to add anything. If this is your first shot at AP classes, that’s going to be challenge enough. That’s how you’ll improve your chances - do well with the schedule you’ve got. In fact, be prepared to cut out ECs as the challenge of that course load increases. Trust me, it’s going to be rough at some point when they all line up with tests in a day or so of each other. At some point this year, you’re going to think you’re going to lose it. Just breathe and get through it.</p>
<p>If you want to do something to increase your ECs, do it next summer, when you’ve got more time. Then back to the books for senior year.</p>
<p>Community service is generally overrated. Nowhere near as important as grades, rigor, and test scores. And test scores are third on that list for a reason.</p>
<p>Also, don’t obsess about the Ivies. If you make it great, if not, there are lots of near Ivies that are just as good if not better. You’ll do fine either way, but not without first completing junior year with good grades.</p>
<p>Thank you for the help! I am pretty confident that I’ll be able to maintain an unweighted 95 throughout the year. I was just wondering what else I could do to make me stand out from all of the other great students applying to top colleges.</p>
<p>Climb El Capitan.</p>
<p>[Yosemite</a> El Capitan.jpg - Wikipedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Yosemite_El_Capitan.jpg]Yosemite”>File:Yosemite El Capitan.jpg - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Didn’t say it would be practical, but is sure would make you stand out.</p>
<p>Just be patient, at some point that curriculum is going to get tough. And you could work on your writing score. It’s not that solid, especially considering the reading score.</p>
<p>@MrMom62 Haha that is a very funny suggestion considering I visited Yosemite this summer. I definitely would like to improve my writing score, and I am currently taking a practice SAT (from the blue book) every weekend. I am still confident that I will be able to maintain a respectable GPA with my course load. </p>
<p>I know this is a very generic question with no clearly defined answer but I am going to ask it anyway. What is a good list of extracurriculars?
And also How much community service should I do?</p>
![http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Yosemite_El_Capitan.jpg]Yosemite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Yosemite_El_Capitan.jpg%5DYosemite){kind=link}
